When I attended the Future of Web Design (FOWD) conference in London back in May of this year, I added a small scribble to their graffiti wall which you can see above. The problem is, I know that I don’t always live and work outside my comfort zone.
So what exactly is ‘outside my comfort zone’? Well, I’ll attempt to outline some aspirations (I suppose they’re early new years resolutions – but I’m going to start now) all of which are things I’m not particularly comfortable with, which is exactly why I know I should be doing them:
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Write more
I’m not the greatest writer. There, I’ve said it, but over time I hope to change this and the perfect vehicle for that is this blog. In the past I’ve always fallen back on the excuse that I’m, “Just a pixel pusher” which is incredibly lame. I’ve an awful lot to talk about and those who know me well will tell you that rightly or wrongly I can be quite opinionated.
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Speak more
At some point in 2014 I’m keen to try my hand at public speaking. It seems like a very long time ago now but I used to get a real buzz out of doing presentations at University but as soon as I managed to land my first job at the BBC I got ‘comfortable’ and didn’t really challenge myself in this area. I’ve no idea about exactly what I’d like to talk about, although I have a few ideas and hopefully I can discuss my ideas here too. Having said that – I’m always open to suggestions!
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Create more
Over the last couple of years I’ve really enjoyed Instagram, both in submitting my photography and appreciating some of the amazing work that gets posted there. I did start a little series of images based on the alphabet but stopped at H. For my own sanity I want to complete this in the next month or so. Feel free to check out my Instagram feed here and let me know what you think.
I’ll also be attempting to dribbble more often! -
Share more
I’ve always enjoyed sharing, mainly through Twitter (although my sharing habit started way back on the glory days of Digg). What I love about the Web/Interactive/UX Design industry is that it’s constantly evolving and changing and as it does I love to share my discoveries, whether it’s new techniques, tools or work flows I’ll always be interested. I’m going to make a commitment to share my best finds on a weekly basis, so if you’d like to sign up to the Postmodem Design Digest simply signup using the form in the side menu.
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Use exclamation marks less
I’m dreadful at this – you’ll notice a fair few in this post alone. #baddaryl
There you have it, I’m sure there’ll be more to add but I think it’s a pretty good place to start.
I’ll come back in a year and review how I got on!
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
– Karen Lamb
PS: A little word about this site, I know it’s not perfect (in my opinion nothing ever is – but that’s a whole other blog post) so expect it to change significantly over time while I add my Photography and Portfolio to it.